April 18, 2013

Above is footage from the Transworld CUT contest from last Saturday along with photos and a brief write-up here; I'm breaking no self-imposed rules by posting this stuff, the snow falls yet again.

From further south, friend of the Plat, Randy Ploesser, asks for a little bit of help regarding the future demise of the spot you don't call Shitside:

"Hey dudes, if you have the time could you link this on your webzones, social media, etc. It is to raise funds for what would be the first public non-DIY skatepark in Saint Louis. Our main DIY under the Kingshighway bridge is slated for destruction Spring 2014. There is a Tony Hawk grant secured and we just need the last push to get it there."

April 12, 2013

The above was in The Familia Video and the photo is from Low Card from some years ago. I caught that photo of a photo at Randy's house in St. Louis, in 2009, I think. The external hard drive contains things you missed and things you didn't even know you missed. Happy to report that Nate is back on board, after that autumn/winter knee scare.

As the decade-long-cycle of Minneapolis public skateparks resets, there are talks of new and significant improvements afoot. Look no further than Mayor R.T Rybak'soutgoing State of the City speech to see what's up. I think it's progress.

April 10, 2013

Blogger did us a solid when it got weird with this file upload. Like a Minnesota spring, sometimes the unexpected is it. Co-credit Blogger upload and Tucker Gerrick with the photo.

I don't remember what I was putting on this blog right around the time Weekend Warriors came out. I know we pushed the eventual video and the premiere and all that was a weird and somewhat surprising seven (7!!!) years ago. Local videos hold a special place in my heart, because the worst and the best of them are all usually more interesting than the ho-hum non-local non-placed offering that all seem to be from southern California anyways, but you get what I'm saying.

The big thing happening in Minnesota is the snow. The snow in April. We curse the place where we mostly choose to live, the hearty among us already accustomed to the sand and the crap that makes STREET SKATING the spring ritual it is, though new snow and a forecast of stasis drives us somewhere, so slowly, at least tomorrow.

Here's the point: Minneapolis is an outlier because it's produced a really ridiculous amount of skateboard videos showcasing the skateboard scene here over the last decade and a half because it just happened that way. See previous posts. People and places and thing(s) made it happen. We are lucky. Turn to St. Louis.

The piece defies some simple pull-quotes, while at the same time, summing up the reasons why I keep writing this damn blog and caring more about skateboarding here, and not somewhere else. Take it in, please.